NPT confirms 171 applications for broadband subsidies

The Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority (NPT) has received a total of 171 applications for broadband subsidies for a combined value of NOK713 million (USD113 million). With the total budget of the broadband projects said to stand at more than NOK1.3 billion, the regulator noted that the requested subsidies represented more than half of the total costs, though it did say the proportion of subsidy funding varied from application to application. The regulator has said it will now process all applications before deciding how to allocate the NOK160 million it has available for 2014.

In total 16 counties have applied for funding under the subsidy scheme, with the most applications – 28 – having come from Vest-Agder, while the NPT said that authorities in Nordland had called for the largest amount of funding total of more than NOK131 million.